Stanley Clark
Dr. Newman
Freedom and Authority
2/28/16
According to Rousseau’s argument about the corruption of the sciences and the loss of virtue in mankind his view of what freedom is stretches beyond the principles of civil liberties. He has an understanding that, in order to truly be free, one must find an inner freedom that can’t be given to you through the government. This coincides with positive freedom’s essential trait of self-mastery. Therefore, I will discuss how Rousseau’s describing positive freedom as the true sense of being free. Additionally, I will discuss modern society and highlight components of Rousseau’s arguments to show modern ramifications of this true loss of virtue Rousseau describes.
Before delving into the specifics …show more content…
This is juxtaposed by negative energy which Berlin describes as the freedom from government. In other words the government provides the liberties and freedoms we have in conjunction with being the security for the populace. The United States is a prime example of this, where equal opportunity, civil liberties, and our constitutional rights are all given to us private citizens through the government.
Rousseau’s argument is an example of positive freedom due to his method of denying all the benefits education and the power gives us. We need to have more control over our own life. As long as we are contributing to society with a job, going to school, buying clothes for both settings and spending our free time with people from both worlds discussing the work we are doing we are slaves to society, and not free. Our happiness in this system is predicated off of society’s views of us. A person will not be happy unless they reach a profession that sounds good, so their happiness lies in how the flair of the job rather than the work done by that profession. In this society, Rousseau adds, ‘we have physicists, geometers, chemists, astronomers, poets, musicians, painters’, but, ‘we no longer have …show more content…
All institutions of education owe themselves to our virtues Rousseau states. He defends this claim by writing that Astronomy is result of our superstition, Geometry our avarice, and Physics our vain curiosity, among others (Rousseau 48). With education comes a whole lifestyle of luxury and prestige, something Rousseau would argue causes much conflict with one’s morals, and natural freedom. This is evident in our politicians Rousseau claims. Explaining how ancient politicians talked about morals and the arts while the ones of modern time spend their speeches going over business and money. The worth of each citizen is now ‘worth no more to the State than the value of his domestic consumption’ (Rousseau 51). People are reduced to numbers and there is little care about them or their well-being. This can be seen today by the animosity people have towards politicians and Washington. Society now recognizes their worth to our governmental officials and don’t trust them for it. As a political science major I see this all the time, from person to person, another example of how their must be a change in the way the government operates because in its current case, people think the people all have agendas, are corrupt, and that the system itself is even more corrupt. The more education you get, the more money one collects, which, according to Rousseau makes them all the less moral. The State with more money throughout
Dr. Newman
Freedom and Authority
2/28/16
According to Rousseau’s argument about the corruption of the sciences and the loss of virtue in mankind his view of what freedom is stretches beyond the principles of civil liberties. He has an understanding that, in order to truly be free, one must find an inner freedom that can’t be given to you through the government. This coincides with positive freedom’s essential trait of self-mastery. Therefore, I will discuss how Rousseau’s describing positive freedom as the true sense of being free. Additionally, I will discuss modern society and highlight components of Rousseau’s arguments to show modern ramifications of this true loss of virtue Rousseau describes.
Before delving into the specifics …show more content…
This is juxtaposed by negative energy which Berlin describes as the freedom from government. In other words the government provides the liberties and freedoms we have in conjunction with being the security for the populace. The United States is a prime example of this, where equal opportunity, civil liberties, and our constitutional rights are all given to us private citizens through the government.
Rousseau’s argument is an example of positive freedom due to his method of denying all the benefits education and the power gives us. We need to have more control over our own life. As long as we are contributing to society with a job, going to school, buying clothes for both settings and spending our free time with people from both worlds discussing the work we are doing we are slaves to society, and not free. Our happiness in this system is predicated off of society’s views of us. A person will not be happy unless they reach a profession that sounds good, so their happiness lies in how the flair of the job rather than the work done by that profession. In this society, Rousseau adds, ‘we have physicists, geometers, chemists, astronomers, poets, musicians, painters’, but, ‘we no longer have …show more content…
All institutions of education owe themselves to our virtues Rousseau states. He defends this claim by writing that Astronomy is result of our superstition, Geometry our avarice, and Physics our vain curiosity, among others (Rousseau 48). With education comes a whole lifestyle of luxury and prestige, something Rousseau would argue causes much conflict with one’s morals, and natural freedom. This is evident in our politicians Rousseau claims. Explaining how ancient politicians talked about morals and the arts while the ones of modern time spend their speeches going over business and money. The worth of each citizen is now ‘worth no more to the State than the value of his domestic consumption’ (Rousseau 51). People are reduced to numbers and there is little care about them or their well-being. This can be seen today by the animosity people have towards politicians and Washington. Society now recognizes their worth to our governmental officials and don’t trust them for it. As a political science major I see this all the time, from person to person, another example of how their must be a change in the way the government operates because in its current case, people think the people all have agendas, are corrupt, and that the system itself is even more corrupt. The more education you get, the more money one collects, which, according to Rousseau makes them all the less moral. The State with more money throughout